Gas conditioning or cooling towers are used in waste incineration systems, whether household or hazardous, and have become important in the growing chemical waste area. Such cooling towers often are constructed with an interior tile or brick wall design. The towers usually are cylindrical in configuration, but a circular cross configuration is not absolutely limiting. Such towers also are applied to quench and cooling chambers in existing incineration systems.
The tile or brick wall design of such structures are refractory in nature because of exposure to various conditions such as high temperature, moisture, an acid atmosphere, turbulent air flow and in applications of fluidized bed reactors. Such structures also must be capable of being installed vertically, horizontally or at an angle, and they must be used in both stationary and transportable applications. Consequently, the invention is shown herein as applied to a vertical cylindrical cooling tower but it should be understood that this is but for illustration purposes only and the terms "vertical" or "horizontal" herein and in the claims hereof should not be limiting but exemplary in description only.
Because of the type of environment described, various problems are encountered and various needs must to be fulfilled in designing a refractory brick wall system for towers and the like. For instance, there is an excess refractory weight which builds up from slagging on the wall elevation which must be relieved in order to allow higher walls to be constructed. Stresses from refractory thermal growth must be relieved or eliminated. It would be desirable to provide for some vertical and horizontal growth freedom of movement in the refractory brick wall during heat-up and to allow for thermal expansion and contraction during use. It would be desirable to facilitate repair of the refractory wall in a sectionalized manner to avoid having to remove and/or replace large areas of the brick wall. It would be desirable to provide some form of positive structural tie-back of the refractory bricks while still allowing for freedom of thermal movement within the refractory wall.
The wall design also should be virtually airtight and prevent penetration of corrosive gases and condensation. The wall design also should be of an insulating construction.
These many and varied problems, considerations and needs cause many dilemmas in designing an appropriate refractory brick wall system and constant efforts are being made to improve such structures, particularly in the ever-expanding field of waste incineration. This invention is directed to solving the above problems and dilemmas and satisfying the above and other needs in this field.